A honeymoon plan ended in an arrest, months of detention and over $80,000 in debt for Venezuelan immigrant Bryan Rojas, who’s married to a U.S. citizen.

Bryan José Rojas Galofre wanted to give his wife a lovely honeymoon to see the beach for the first time and perhaps a glimpse of President Donald Trump, whom she supports.

Their January 2025 road trip from Wisconsin to Miami, however, turned into a nightmare, according to the couple: Rojas, a Venezuelan immigrant whose wife and young children are U.S. citizens, was detained following a stop at a Trump hotel security checkpoint.

He spent more than three months in ICE custody in Florida. Rojas also faced accusations of gang affiliation; he says he feared being deported to El Salvador and lost his stable job and work permit. The family says they’ve lost their house and car, had to deplete Rojas’ 401(k) and are in debt.

“In the end, it was a bad decision,” Rojas, 34, said

“I’m his fan. I believe Trump is a good president,” she said. However, Zaragosa noted this political loyalty co-exists with the disappointment she feels over the months her husband spent in detention.

“What he is doing to migrants isn’t fair,” Zaragosa said of the president. “What happened to my family wasn’t fair.”

  • postcapitalism@lemmy.todayOPEnglish
    1911·
    3 days ago

    “I believe Trump is a good president” … but what he did specifically to “my family” is bad… chefs kiss level of schadenfreude this morning - topped off with a little Republican my abortion is the only good abortion level of hypocrisy.

    What will it take for these morons to realize the unique horribleness of this administration?

    When you can’t change these people after getting hit in the face with a brick - you have to admit - Hope for progress should be muted

    • someguy3@lemmy.worldEnglish
      65·
      3 days ago

      “We’re innocent people that got caught in the dragnet, but it’ll work out and the dragnet is good” - every deluded Republican voter that still doesn’t realize this is exactly what they want.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      25·
      3 days ago

      What will it take for these morons to realize the unique horribleness of this administration?

      Nothing. Their egos are “protecting” them from having to admit that they support the man/movement that ruined their family’s life

    • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
      English
      5·
      2 days ago

      Humans lived in tribes for millions of years. Tribalism is hard-coded into our brains.

      An attack on the tribe is considered an attack on every individual within the tribe. Saying “Trump is racist” is an attack on everyone in the MAGA tribe and makes you an enemy of the tribe. Not someone to be trusted. Someone to fight back against.

      Things that are obvious to anyone outside of the tribe won’t even be considered by anyone within the tribe. If there’s any doubt, the other members of the tribe will tell them “no, we aren’t racist, they are the racists!” The obvious thing becomes a lie and rejected.

      Even when something impacts your life, you may think “well that was just a mistake” so you can continue feeling happy to be in the “good tribe”.

      No one is good at questioning these things because we don’t want to think of ourselves as not all that much more evolved than apes. So we develop ideologies to paint over how we really think.

      Are you able to question your tribe? What are the things that are obvious to anyone not in your tribe that you can’t consider?

      Whose faces do the leopards you hang out with want to eat?

      • _‌_反いじめ戦隊@ani.socialEnglish
        21·
        2 days ago

        I think you confused a cult with tribes.
        You can be in a tribe and not follow a cult.
        MAGA is a cult that demands sacrifice without benefits.
        I’m the fellow witchdoctor of my tribe. Would you like some Fentanyl?rhe

        • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
          English
          3·
          2 days ago

          A cult is just one example of this pattern. Humans in groups will have a tendency to follow the same pattern whether it’s a political movement, religion, social media, criminal gangs, workplace department, or even a fandom. The person seen as the leader is not questioned, anyone that asks questions is ostracized, proving loyalty is rewarded. People will knowingly tell lies since that proves loyalty to the tribe. People will pretend to believe the lies since that’s also rewarded. With social media it gets really stupid since the reward is usually just a number beside a “like” icon.

          When you go along with a lie long enough, you may start to believe it’s true.

          • _‌_反いじめ戦隊@ani.socialEnglish
            1·
            2 days ago

            You’re describing herding, which works on many mammals.

            When you go along with a lie long enough, you may start to believe it’s true.

            This also has a term.

            A tribe is just a group. They don’t have to herd themselves, cult themselves, or lie to themselves.

  • Professorozone@lemmy.worldEnglish
    31·
    2 days ago

    I’m so glad she experienced what she supported. Too bad she didn’t really learn anything from it. Anyway…

  • Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    57·
    2 days ago

    Holy shit, dude thought he was part of the in group 😂. How does a person become that oblivious/ brainwashed? Astounding.

    • tempest@lemmy.caEnglish
      26·
      2 days ago

      Social Media firehose coupled with vague fill in the blank populist rhetoric.

      It’s an effective combination.

        • tempest@lemmy.caEnglish
          21·
          2 days ago

          It doesn’t really matter honestly. In order to be immune to this type of thing you have to either be off social media or constantly thinking critically. It’s impossible to think critically all the time so the one way too win is by not playing.

          Here I am telling you this while on social media…

  • kylie_kraft@lemmy.worldEnglish
    53·
    3 days ago

    “I’m his fan. I believe Hitler is a good Führer,” she said. “What he is doing to Jews isn’t fair.”

    • edgarde@lemmy.worldEnglish
      27·
      2 days ago

      “I don’t think anything bad about the president. It wasn’t his fault; it was our fault.".

      She’ll turn on her husband before she turns on the president.

      In her desperate attempt to help her son, she contacted a purported attorney via social media who, she alleges, turned out to be an impostor. “He would answer all my messages and ask me for various things; I would send him the documents he requested — I even sent him about $2,000. But then, all of a sudden, I never heard from him or his associates again,” she said.

      They are desperate, powerless, and willing to part with their money. I bet Eric Trump invests in a piece of this action.

  • Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    23·
    2 days ago

    The husband is just as responsible for the situation as his wife was. He should have left her and run the moment she showed support for the guy who hates non-whites. That could’ve happened well before they had kids, it’s not like it was a secret or anything. Pretending he wasn’t talking about them is just delusional thinking.

  • Rentlar@lemmy.caEnglish
    22·
    3 days ago

    The Venezuelan man was really selfless and thoughtful here… sucks that he married and had kids with a moronic wife who can somehow still continue to excuse the pain she helped caused them all.

    • MountingSuspicion@reddthat.comEnglish
      20·
      2 days ago

      For the most part I have little sympathy for people who married Trump supporters. The Trump supporter likely had a lot of terrible behavior towards people in her day to day life and her husband just didn’t care about that because it didn’t directly affect him and their relationship. Now it has.

    • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
      7·
      2 days ago

      “I’m his fan. I believe Trump is a good president,” she said. However, Zaragosa noted this political loyalty co-exists with the disappointment she feels over the months her husband spent in detention.

      For sure, if I was detained and my spouse said this, I would be starting the divorce process. Same if I did it to them, I would expect them to divorce me. The choice between supporting a politician and supporting your spouse should be the easiest out there, and yet she failed that simple test.

      • _‌_反いじめ戦隊@ani.socialEnglish
        1·
        2 days ago

        Hey, don’t be so Puritan to slave contractors!
        Zaragosa probably married Rojas for the fact he can clean, repair, and afford trips to luxurious beaches!

        Wait deathcamps does them apart, does that mean Zaragosa can enslave another Venezolano‽

        /sardonism